Now you're just being mean

[Kogarashi]

Quoth RecoveringKinkoid

Thank you for the new vocabulary word: "Buttonhook." I understand why trucks do it, but I have to laugh when I see someone in, say, a Volkswagon or other tiny compact car do it. I always wonder if their Other Car is a big rig!

I find I actually do this (a little bit) in my Jeep Cherokee when parking. No other time, but in the parking lot I do it a bit so I can get into the parking space straight the first time and not park like an idiot or have to back out and straighten up. Especially considering how often my hubby has to straighten the car out, and he doesn't do a little buttonhook first.

But tiny cars? That's kind of amusing.

[greek_jester]

Quoth Kogarashi

But tiny cars? That's kind of amusing.

Actually, I used to have to do it with my old Peugeot 306. Diddy little car, but it had a pathetic turning circle. I clipped more than a few kerbs when I replaced it with a car that can actually take corners properly!

[Kogarashi]

Quoth greek_jester

Actually, I used to have to do it with my old Peugeot 306. Diddy little car, but it had a pathetic turning circle. I clipped more than a few kerbs when I replaced it with a car that can actually take corners properly!

You're forgiven then.

[wolfie]

Quoth PepperElf

And of course using my headlights to single "way's clear, come on in to my lane" etc.

One disturbing trend I've noticed is that some people, when another vehicle signals to get into their lane, flash their high beams, but their behaviour shows that their intent is "Stay out of *MY* lane!" - an extension of the aggressive "Move over, slowpoke!" flash. One time (in my car, not my truck), I misinterpreted their flash as being the trucker's "OK to move over" flash - and they started riding my bumper and flashing their high beams at me because I had the gall to defy their ORDERS. Sooner or later, they'll do that to a truck, get the same misinterpretation, and be sideswiped into the guardrail.

Quoth Flying Grype

If we have to stop suddenly I'd rather not have you slam into me from behind while your brakes try to stop your massive truck. This has nothing to do with your skill or reaction time as a trucker, it's about physics.

Something that people who only drive vehicles with hydraulic brakes don't understand is brake lag. With hydraulics, as soon as you hit the brakes there's usable pressure at the wheel cylinders/calipers. With air brakes, it takes roughly 1/2 second from opening the foot valve until you've got usable pressure. Pull a "swoop and squat" on a semi and you'll scratch the chrome on his bumper - your car will fare somewhat worse.

[Chromatix]

Same argument for trains, only more so. On a typical freight train you could have a pipe full of compressed air that is a quarter mile long, and which you have to get the air out of (from one end only) in order to apply the brakes.

Some types of passenger train control the brakes electronically, so the lag is shorter and more similar to truck brakes. This generally applies only to multiple-unit trains though - loco-hauled trains use nearly the same air pipe design as freight trains do, just a little more refined for comfort.

In both cases, the stopping distance is considerably longer than for a road vehicle, simply because steel/steel friction is nowhere near as strong as rubber/tarmac friction. A train's braking distance on a good day is similar to a car's braking distance on glare ice.

[protege]

Quoth greek_jester

Actually, I used to have to do it with my old Peugeot 306. Diddy little car, but it had a pathetic turning circle.

I sometimes have to do that with the MG. It's not that the turning circle is large, but rather because of the steering. There's no power assist, and it's heavy at parking speeds. That's why I sometimes "swing wide" when turning certain corners.

But, considering that trucks (and buses too) could easily swat me off the road, I try to give them as much room as possible. It amazes the hell out of me that many other drivers act like idiots around them. They all forget that even a 'minor' accident with a truck...can easily total their vehicle.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Quoth protege

But, considering that trucks (and buses too) could easily swat me off the road, I try to give them as much room as possible. It amazes the hell out of me that many other drivers act like idiots around them. They all forget that even a 'minor' accident with a truck...can easily total their vehicle.

That's something I've noticed quite a bit on the way either to or from work, as the road I travel where my store is located goes past where my Dad works (the Big Yellow E terminal.)

It's (Main Road) a narrow two lane road with double yellow lines and a turning lane right where you turn off to the terminal (go left and it takes you down a winding road of doctor/specialty medical offices) complete with traffic light.

Needless to say, these trucks need all the room they can get to turn southbound onto Main Road (most of them do but some will turn northbound onto Main Road depending on where they're heading) and the morons at the light will pull UP as close to the intersection as they can, which means the truck driver has a narrower turn to get through the intersection.

Why can't these cars back the FK UP and give these truckers the room they need so they (the morons) don't get turned into Roadkill??????

[Pagan]

Quoth CaptainThrifty

What is it with people who can't let that big truck pass them?

It's not just big trucks. I run into men that cannot stand to be passed by a woman.

Quoth Kogarashi

I find I actually do this (a little bit) in my Jeep Cherokee when parking. No other time, but in the parking lot I do it a bit so I can get into the parking space straight the first time and not park like an idiot or have to back out and straighten up. Especially considering how often my hubby has to straighten the car out, and he doesn't do a little buttonhook first.

But tiny cars? That's kind of amusing.

I do it in mine, '96 Saturn SC2, but only when I'm turning into a parking space on the right and I'm not pulling across.

[Kogarashi]

Quoth DGoddessChardonnay

Needless to say, these trucks need all the room they can get to turn southbound onto Main Road (most of them do but some will turn northbound onto Main Road depending on where they're heading) and the morons at the light will pull UP as close to the intersection as they can, which means the truck driver has a narrower turn to get through the intersection.

In the last city we lived in, people would do that at certain intersections too, and it made it extremely difficult on the city buses. Because the streets were narrow (and frequently included on-street parking), there were some intersections where the stop line was set back half a car-length or more from where it would normally be. Even when we were brand new to the city, I quickly figured out it was so turning vehicles, especially larger ones, had the room to make a smooth turn without hitting traffic waiting at the stop line.

Of course, just about everyone in that city would blow up to the stop line and past at a red light, waiting almost completely over the line sometimes. Along comes the city bus.... I could see there was a reason for the huge gouges in the side of the buses. And once I got stuck behind someone who realized too late that he had to back up to let the bus complete its turn. Luckily for him, I knew it, and had left him some room to back up.

Quoth Pagan

I do it in mine, '96 Saturn SC2, but only when I'm turning into a parking space on the right and I'm not pulling across.

That's it exactly. Parking on the left, I've already got the extra space.